EXCLUSIVE By Anna Burdett Farming and rural affairs editor

Last updated at 08:30, Friday, 06 June 2008

DECADES after it became extinct, the Cumberland pig is back – thanks to DNA wizardry and the passion of one man.

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Terry Bowes, from Wetheriggs Animal Rescue and Conservation Centre, near Penrith, has been selectively breeding pigs for five years and claims to have finally recreated the genuine article.

Work began after a DNA sample was taken from a Cumberland pig hide. Tests were carried out on pig breeds across the world, which have been crossbred to find the perfect match.

Wendy is the result. She is a 99.6 per cent DNA match and looks just like a Cumberland pig with her white skin, floppy ears, coarse hair and weaving walk.

The last Cumberland pig died on a Bothel farm in 1960 after the breed was sidelined when factory farming began.

Mr Bowes said: “I met a man who helped look after that last pig and he has been to see Wendy and says she’s a dead-ringer.

“The Rare Breeds Survival Trust don’t recognise recreated breeds but I think it was important to try to save this part of our heritage.”

Meat from the pig gave the Cumberland sausage its name and Mr Bowes hopes one day genuine county sausages will be back on the menu because of his project.

He said: “The Cumberland pig caught my imagination and I thought it would be nice to bring it back.

“The Victorians were very good at maintaining gene pools but we haven’t been, partly because of modern farming.”

He is appealing for anyone who has photographs or paintings of Cumberlands, or even first-hand experience of them, to get in touch.

Enthusiasts have already successfully recreated the once-extinct Oxford Sandy & Black breed, which now has its own society, despite not being recognised by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST).

Peter Ryan, of the Cumbria RBST Support Group, said: “It is a very interesting project and the fact it is being done in Cumbria makes it a sort of Cumberland pig.”

Austen Davies, chairman of the Cumberland Sausage Association, said he couldn’t wait to start making sausages from the Cumberland pig.

He said: “It is a marvellous re-establishment of something that is synonymous with the old county of Cumberland.”

Gloucester old spots, Polynesian pigs and wild boars have all been involved with the Cumberland pig breeding programme.

Wendy was born in November and will be mated with an Old Welsh boar next year to widen the gene pool.

A spokesman for the RBST said: “This enthusiasm for our native and historical breeds and their place in our heritage is one which is shared by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. However, these modern recreations of original breeds are not recognised by the RBST.”

If you have information about the Cumberland pig contact Terry Bowes on 01768 889121.

First published at 05:36, Friday, 06 June 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk